Thin-flap Femtosecond LASIK (with reply)
To the Editor:
I read with interest the excellent article by Pietilä et al1 regarding LASIK flap creation with the FEMTO LDV femtosecond laser (Ziemer Ophthalmic Systems, Port, Switzerland), which appeared in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Refractive Surgery. The study emphasizes just how far we have evolved with the use of the femtosecond laser to perform LASIK. The authors noted that the mean flap thickness and standard deviation for right and left eyes was 90.0±5.5 µm and 90.1±4.6 μm, respectively. The range of the flap thickness was 67 to 107 µm. This is impressive precision. They noted a mild correlation between preoperative corneal thickness and flap thickness, which was statistically significant in right eyes but not left eyes (r=0.131 right eye, r=0.094 left eye). They used a standard Ziemer 110-μm InterShield spacer; however, the laser can be adjusted by the laser engineer to thicken or thin the actual flap, which probably occurred with this laser as well. They noted that increasing flap diameter was correlated with increasing preoperative keratometric value. [more...]
doi:10.3928/1081597X-20100512-03
doi:10.3928/1081597X-20100512-03 - reply
